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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Friday, May 05, 2023

Following the Money: The Pre-Primary Reports Filed By Steve Baratta and Terry Houck in NorCo DA Race

Below you will see the Pre-Primary finance reports filed by incumbent Terry Houck and challenger Steve Baratta in the NorCo District Attorney's race. They report how much money they've raised and how it's been spent. I thought I'd load them in their entirety because of the amount spent and to ask you for any observations. The only things redacted are their signatures and phone numbers.  I'll take your comments and provide an analysis on Monday. 

During the period between January 4 and May 1, Baratta raised $131,875 as well as in-kind contributions of $49,501.69. He spent $115,433.37, and has $16,441.63 going into the closing days of the race. 

Over this same period, Houck raised $64,026. Adding that to cash on hand from his previous race, Houck had $99,363.39 as well as in-kind contributions of $2478.36. He spent $87,760.82, leaving him with $11,602.57 going into the closing days. His wife also just lent his campaign $23,000, so he actually has $34,000. 

Baratta outraised Houck two to one, but because Houck started the race with a kitty of $35,000, Houck was able to spend nearly as much going into the final week of this heavily contested race. 

The last race this controversial was when John Morganelli challenged and beat Don Corriere in the 1991 Democratic primary. He went on the beat Emil Giordano in the general election.  

Steve Baratta Pre-Primary Report by BernieOHare on Scribd

Terry Houck Pre-Primary by BernieOHare on Scribd

10 comments:

Bernie O'Hare said...

I just deleted an anonymous comment attacking Terry Houck's wife. Let's leave the families out of this, mmmk?

Bernie O'Hare said...

Received this anonymous comment: "Interesting, Bernie, thanks for posting. Surprised that Terry Houck didn’t have a more successful fundraising campaign, but it appears he has support from a variety of groups/people. Steve Baratta, on the other hand has some heavy hitters donating. Did I read correctly that Ray Lahoud donated $10,000? If so, what is in this for him? He is also very active in the running of the campaign. Chris (?) Morganelli was another familiar name. I can’t imagine his dad played a part in him having some business thrown his way. (Eye roll)"

Anonymous said...

Ray Lahoud is a hottie.

Anonymous said...

What is hilarious are all the people playing both sides of the fence and field. Lots of donors that gave to both candidates.

Anonymous said...

Holy sh*t. LaHoud gave 47k total for a DA race?

Anonymous said...

Lahoud and Baratta piles of cash = illegals get a free pass to run wild on innocent NorCo citizens. Reject this pitiful duo and their dirty plan. There seems to be good money in "helping" illegals. F him. F them. F Baratta and the lawlessness he espouses. Enjoy a retirement as the pariah you now are.

Anonymous said...

“F him” as to Lahoud for exercising his first amendment right to donate to candidates. If you have a problem, put your money where your mouth is. And, illegals. Is that what the Houck campaign calls immigrants now? Now we get why Houck calls immigration agents to arrest immigrants. Houck denies it and repeats the same thing: “it’s a lie”. Bernie isn’t Severson running the Houck campaign. Curious because when you look at the report posted Houck doesn’t report Severson. We all know it’s severson. Severson tells people he is doing it. If he’s doing it for free why isn’t it reported as an inkind. And all the robo calls and texts I’m getting. Why aren’t they reported on the Houck report?

Bernie O'Hare said...

I'd agree that Ray Lahoud is exercising his first amendment rights and engaging in political speech. I personally think there should be a limit on how much money one person may contribute to a candidate, but the state has imposed no such limitation. He has every right to do what he's doing, although I wish that little bastard had not bought google ads for Baratta to run on this blog, lol. I'll have more about what Ray is up to down the road.

To your other points.

First, Severson is not running Terry's campaign. Patti Bruuno is, and took Baratta to task at his last news conference when he tried to make a Severson connection. I don't know if he's giving Severson or Sal advice. I do know is that the criminal charges against him have been expunged.

Second, Houck has never had immigration agents go after illegals. That would be Terry's predecessor, John Morganelli. He had a real disdain for illegals, aka undocumented immigrants, bc he thought they'd commit crime here. Terry pursues those who violate state law. I'm sure Ray Lahoud, who has no love for Terry, would agree that he has waged no war on undocumented immigrants.

Third, if Terry has reported no in-kind from Severson, my guess would be that it's never happened. I had heard he was giving advice to Sal, but do not see him listed there, either.

Fourth, I received no robo call or text from the Houck campaign. My guess is that if they went out, it was Patti Bruno. But you can seek clarification.

Anonymous said...

Most of us don't have the money Lahoud has grifted from "helping." There's major money to be culled from helping people jump lines, I guess. F Lahoud and his attempting to buy an election. I'm glad he's pissing his money away on an abject failure and soon-to-be laughing stock. Spend it all Ray Ray. Spend it all. We hear your First Amendment excercise and we reject it, just like the POS upon whom you lit your dollars on fire.

Anonymous said...

$3,400 In-Kind Contributions Received from Tom Severson for “phones” on Houck’s post-primary report…but of course no mention of that on your post today, only your petty attacks on Baratta as usual. Just yet another instance of you being either severely wrong or just simply turning a blind eye and misleading the public because it doesn’t fit your Terry Houck State Media agenda.